Cain: 'I am not endorsing anybody today or in the immediate future'

On a conference call this morning with more than 100 staffers and supporters, Herman Cain said that he will not endorse another Republican presidential candidate today, and that he has no plans to back anyone anytime soon.

"I am not endorsing anybody today or in the very immediate future," he said. "I can't say I won't endorse, but not in the immediate timeframe."

But Cain added that he would eventually endorse. "It's gonna happen, it's gonna happen. I have a process in mind that I'm going to go through in order to determine who I could possibly endorsement... It won't happen today. Most likely, it won't happen this week. They can calm down about that expectation."

Today's conference call -- to which NBC News listened after being tipped off by a source close to the campaign -- was the first time Cain addressed his full campaign team since the announcement on Saturday that he would suspend his campaign. The ex-Godfather's Pizza CEO was energetic and nostalgic throughout the call, and he remained defiant that the allegations against him (extramarital affair, sexual harassment) were all false. He described the "unrelenting" personal pain that the campaign had had on him and his family.

Cain also went into more detail about his much-anticipated talk with his wife on Friday evening, telling supporters that they arrived at the decision to leave the race together.

"The pain endured by my wife and my family was unrelenting," Cain said of the past few months on the campaign trail.

"My wife and I talked on Friday at home. It was honest and open; it was a great conversation. What went on in the conversation, that's between my wife and me. I was at peace with her and she was at peace with me. The sooner the media stopped spinning this crap ... the better."

But the candidate who has been criticized for running to sell books -- not win the presidency -- is not looking to shy from the spotlight.

"You will be hearing about my next plans," he said chuckling. "I am probably going to do another book. So what! I don't know what my plans are relatively to radio and TV, but remember I did radio and TV before running for office," he said.

Cain's plans for the next chapter of his career were quickly followed by an attempt to directly address accusations that he sought to promote his recently-published book while campaigning, or perhaps host a cable news television show in the future.

"That is not my motivation," he said. "I did not choose to run for the president of the United States to advance my own self.

Cain also used the call to ease his staffer's minds in the wake of them finding out just days ago that they had lost their jobs. Financially, he said his campaign aims to pay his staff through the end of December, "so you can at least have a Merry Christmas and not worry about whether not you're going to have a paycheck," he said. "I didn't want you to worry about what you were going to do over the holidays."

As Cain concluded his thoughts, he left his staff with a few reflections rife with nostalgia and self-congratulation.

"We went from 21% name ID to 99.9% name I.D., if you catch my drift" he said.

Cain relished the frequency of GOP debates, and credited them as the reason for his one-time surge in the polls. "I believe the debates propelled my candidacy and gave me a chance and people to get to know Herman Cain," he said. "That is historic for a non-politician. On the other hand, what it says is, 'How long is it going to be before the next non-politcian to do what I did, what happened to me?' This is just an open question. I think America is going to decide and make a choice at some point."

But, above all, Cain wanted his supporters to know that he did not run for president to advance his personal brand.

"If you look at the whole situation going back to where I started, I did not want to be president just for sake of being president. I wanted to be president so we can change from the inside," he said.